The Beginning of
by Missing Snowman
Summary: A tale from the Doctor’s childhood; the story of why he ran and the secret behind his name. One-shot.


**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Doctor Who.**

**This form was a bit experimental, just a speculative one-shot about the potential significance of the Doctor's name. AU I suppose, because it's almost certainly wrong, but then my disclaimer covers that! Enjoy! :)**

* * *

**The Beginning of**

He never belonged at the beginning, old age suited his eyes. He was such a strange child, one that feared stillness. He could never just watch. He would run through the enfolding beauty of the citadel, his two hearts beating as one. He would imagine himself flying outside the mighty glass dome, basking in the warmth of the twin suns with closed eyes. He climbed the surrounding hills at an early age, but feared to venture up the Mountains of Solace and Solitude. There were tales told of those mountains, and the Doctor learnt to fear their names. The citadel straddled the base of each, and the two mountains loomed over the people - in rock and in folklore. No child would climb them, not until armed with their own name; they feared them as they feared their eighth year because stories told that

_once upon a time, two children - identical brothers - had stood between the mountains in the half-light and argued which was the highest. The first brother declared Mount Solitude to be the tallest, while the second thought Mount Solace to be higher. The brothers were matched in every way, each facing their own mountain. They gripped hands and turned against the other's mountain, but still believing their own to be the tallest they decided to climb each others, so that the first back - with a white rock from the peak - would have proved the other's mountain to be the smaller. The dusk shivered and grew dark_

when the children were taken to look into the Vortex, what stared back would send some mad. The ceremony always took place on the one true night of darkness; once a year when both the suns fell out of the sky and the ever present moon stopped glowing. The darkness was consuming. The Doctor's hearts beat louder and louder. A Time Lord's mind would awake to bask in the warped light of the Vortex, revealing the true name. His true name: splitting his old in two, it lay divided and bitter on his tongue. It was the only time he said it out loud for what it was; nobody heard, the boy next to him was screaming himself into madness as the Doctor's hearts beat perpetual echoes of one another - no longer as one. Dum-dum-dum-dum. The screams shattered into the night, and the Doctor ran

_as the twin boys split, each to climb the other's mountain. They ran with all their might into the dusk ridden heights, forgetting that tonight would be one of darkness, forgetting the warnings of their elders to return home, forgetting each other in their pursuit. Instead they sought to satisfy their own minds, while their bodies ran_

into the dark. The Vortex spun into the distance, etched into the darkness like a full stop, and the screams died away until the Doctor could hear only his own breath and his hearts beating in his chest. They had changed, divided, let him run faster, further, pumping more effectively, he breathed quicker

_and the brothers smiled at their sudden freedom, breathing the air few others dared to reach. Soon the citadel would be below them, and each could bask in the night time glow of the second sun and ever-present moon. But as each climbed higher, the darkness became more consuming and while their young bodies were able to conquer the rocks, stepping nimbly upwards, Solitude and Solace delved deeper into their minds. The first brother, climbing Mount Solace, suddenly stopped. He saw his brother standing before him silently wailing. His form was ghostly in the fading light, but it was his twin, and he would recognise him anywhere. He ran towards him, abandoning the thin path that led to the peak, but as he reached him the boy disappeared. The first brother called after him, and saw the ghostly form once more at a distance, drawing him further from the path. He ran without doubt towards him, to comfort him, to offer him solace - but once more his form vanished into the deepening darkness. The second brother, still climbing Mount Solitude began to feel the darkness stretch around him as the moon lost its glow and the sun sunk behind the horizon. His legs still climbed the thin path with confidence but soon it began to slip from his sight. He blinked and the world was gone completely. He wailed into the darkness as the solitude consumed him because_

now he fled, as the idea of his name enveloped him. He must never be still, and he understood that now. He took a new name, he would be the Doctor. Ideas are powerful; they float through time and sink through matter, filling the generations with the heaviness of fear or hope. Like the beast in the pit, born before dawn and dusk had divided existence, before people learnt to fear the dark. There's different words for it in every language, every culture - an idea as inescapable as the beginning. It's already known, like Mount Solace and Solitude, but nobody understands the fear - they forgot the night is one of darkness, they forgot the warning of their elders, they forgot each other until

_there was nothing left._

_The fable finishes as all stories must, as every song must soon give way to silence, and every life to death;_

for when the Doctor dies, there is only a name left, his true name that

is the last thing Rose whispers to their children; split from him as night from day; as two nameless brothers, each on their own Mount - before she turns out the light, before she closes the book she whispers

_The End._

* * *

**Thanks for reading, please review :)**


End file.
